Ethical concerns raised over $1.64M loan between Wayne Panton and Sabrina Turner

A $1.64 million loan arrangement between Wayne Panton and health minister Sabrina Turner made during his tenure as premier does “not pass the smell test”, according to veteran politician Ezzard Miller.

Miller, the former long-serving MP for North Side criticised the arrangement, saying the optics of it “looks bad”.

“Those are the kinds of things that I studiously avoided when I was a politician, because it can’t, and in my view, it does not, pass the smell test, particularly when these people did not run as a team. They did not run together, but they wound up in Cabinet together,” Miller told the Cayman Compass on Thursday.

Miller, a longtime advocate for transparency in campaign financing, said questions need to be answered, including when was “this deal cut, and what was the reason?”

Miller said the full details of the transaction must be made public, as this was not a loan between two ordinary individuals, it was one between a sitting premier and his minister.

Prior to her election in 2021, Turner ran as an independent candidate and in the lead-up to the formation of the PACT administration, which Panton later led, she had been in discussions with the Progressives to join forces to form the government.

According to Section (I) of the Standards in Public Life guidance on loans, high profile public servants are required to “provide the source, terms, and nature of any loans secured or unsecured from entities/individuals other than those regulated by the Monetary Authority”.

The only reference to a loan in Turner’s declaration in the Register of Interests for Members of Parliament, is “bridge financing” from a private individual.

The entry describes it as an “interest bearing loan” with repayment upon sale of a separate property owned by Turner in Patrick’s Island. It does not specify how much the loan is for.

There was no entry for loans or assets relating to this transaction in Panton’s listing.

“Questions have to be asked, but you’re not getting answers,” Miller said, arguing Turner should not have retained her post after the loan.

“If you go into this kind of arrangement, then you have to know that it’s suspect, right?” he said.

Panton, responding to the former North Side MP’s concerns, said, “his [Miller’s] comments are baseless nonsense”.

McKeeva Bush, former PACT member, now UPM backbencher, told the Compass that coalition members were not aware of the loan, adding that if he had been involved in such an arrangement, there was “no doubt there would be an investigation of me”.

He said his reading of the community, in the wake of revelations about the loan was that “people are enraged.”

Other politicians have also indicated that the situation was not a ‘good look’ but they said they did not want to go on the record at this time.

The Compass, on Tuesday, reported on the loan arrangement that was registered on 17 April 2023 and was enough to cover the $1.4 million price tag of Turner’s four-bed Patrick’s Island property, $100,000 worth of furniture and fittings, and the stamp duty on the purchase transaction.

Turner has declined repeated attempts from the Compass, both written and in person, for comment on the substantial loan.

However, the minister defended the arrangement as a personal loan, a legal contract between the two parties, and not a “backdoor arrangement”, according to a social media report.

Miller said, while the arrangement for such a sum, between the then-premier and a minister in his Cabinet, may well be legal, he questioned whether it was “moral” or “ethical”.

He called for the terms of the loan to be disclosed.

Panton, in his initial statement, did not answer Compass inquiries about the specifics of the loan, including what the interest terms were. These were also absent from the details in the public record.

Commission for Standards in Public Life

The Commission for Standards in Public Life, the independent watchdog for public officials, has not commented on the situation.

The Compass has been told to expect a response from the CSPL next week, as multiple members are currently off-island.

Governor Jane Owen, who has responsibility for good governance, was also contacted for comment; however, she is currently in London on official business.

Acting Governor Franz Manderson, in response to Compass queries, said, “The steps to be taken in respect of the transaction between the relevant parties, if any, will be a matter for the Commission for Standards in Public Life, the body charged with responsibility for upholding the highest standards of integrity across public life.”

The Progressives-led Opposition told the Compass on Tuesday afternoon that the arrangement “potentially creates a severe conflict of interest,” citing the “magnitude” of the loan “from a sitting Premier to a Government Minister”.